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Of Mice and Men
Soundtrack/Analysis Project
During the past few two weeks, we have read and analyzed the characters and plot development of
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Popular music of the 1930s reveals the feelings and stories of the
Great Depression. After analyzing the music from the 30’s, you will act as music director for a new
film version of Steinbeck’s classic novel, demonstrating your ability to read, interpret and analyze
print and non-print texts.
As music director, you will choose five songs that represent the characters and themes of Steinbeck’s
Of Mice and Men to create a soundtrack that reveals the feelings and stories of the novel. For each
song, you must provide the lyrics and a short rationale demonstrating your analysis and justifying
your choice.
How to Choose Your Songs
While there are no limitations on your musical and artistic license, remember that each selection must
be accompanied by a brief but thorough rationale explaining how it relates to the text. Be sure that at
least one of your selections fits into each of the following categories:

General Theme Song for the Novel – The lyrics and music of this song represent main themes
and ideas presented in the novel and would be suitable to play during the opening or closing
credits or at the resolution of the story.

Background Music for a Specific Scene – The lyrics and music of this song support or
enhance a particular event or setting in the novel and would be suitable to play during the
action of the particular chosen scene.

Specific Character Theme Songs – The lyrics and music of this song convey the attitude,
personality traits, thoughts, ideas, dreams, or conflicts of a specific character from the novel,
either at a specific point or as an overview.
How to Write Your Rationales
For each chosen song, you need to compose a brief but thorough rationale that explains the
relationship between the song and the novel. Each rationale must be authoritatively written with
insightful analysis and clear support. Begin the rationale with a clear claim sentence that articulates
your connection. Use textual evidence from the lyrics and/or the novel and provide commentary
that clearly demonstrates your analysis.
How to Write Your Rationales (…continued)

What theme does this song represent? How do the music and lyrics represent this theme?

What personality traits or ideas of this character does this song represent? How do the music
and lyrics evoke these ideas?

What scene does this song support or represent? How do the music and lyrics connect to the
action or emotions of this scene?
What to Submit for the Grade
 A typed copy of the lyrics to each song – with the title and performer listed
 A typed copy of the rationales
 An electronic copy of the rationales to turnitin.com
Looking for More Credit?
 Burn the soundtrack playlist onto a CD
 Create a CD cover with an original title and original cover art
 Annotate the lyrics (Underline specific lines that relate to the text and comment on the
connections)
Evaluation
 Final product demonstrates original, creative, critical thinking.
 Final product is presented in a neat and professional manner that demonstrates effort.
 All song selections have clear connections to Of Mice and Men. Rationales provide welljustified reasons for including particular song selections.
 Rationales convey clearly and fully developed ideas that demonstrate deeper-level critical
thinking in song selection and explication.
 Rationales demonstrate in-depth analysis of text and lyrics, making insightful connections
between information and ideas in the text and the music.
 Rationales include a range of relevant references to specific scenes, characters, themes, and
language in the text and lyrics.
 Writing is relatively free from distracting errors in spelling and grammar.
Examples

The song from the musical Annie, “It’s a Hard-Knock Life for Us” relates to chapter two of
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby because the orphans and the denizens of the Valley of Ashes
have some of the same struggles that the orphans have. The title of the song clearly relates to
George and Myrtle’s difficult life circumstances. The fact that they live above a garage in the
undesirable part of town suggests that their life is every bit as hard as the orphaned children
in Annie.
Myrtle’s interactions with others also relates to the unjust way the orphans are treated. When
the chorus of orphans cry out, “Steada treated we get tricks / Steada kisses we get kicked,”
they are expressing the same despair Myrtle feels when Tom breaks her nose. Just like the
orphans, Myrtle is physically and emotionally abused.
Furthermore, the the Valley of the Ashes (like the orphanage) is a dismal, dreadful place that
the characters of each text struggle to escape. The orphans ask rhetorically, “Don’t it seem like
there’s never any light?” In comparison, Nick, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, describes the
valley as a dismal and desolate area of land. Both the orphanage and the Valley of Ashes are
dark and dreary places in which the characters seem trapped.

Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” speaks to the general theme of ambition in Macbeth and could be
easily incorporated into a production of the play. While the speaker in the song is reflecting
on lost power, one can envision Macbeth having similar thoughts in the wake of his
catastrophic leadership in Scotland. Macbeth sought out power at all costs because he was
convinced that he was fated to have it. Whether he learned from his mistake is up for debate,
but it is clear that the theme of flawed ambition threads throughout the play, and the lessons
the speaker in this song by Coldplay has suffered from these corrupting forces as well.

Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” serves as the theme song for the ambitious but misguided character
of Macbeth. The speaker of “Viva la Vida” realizes that he has taken a wrong turn when he
muses, “One minute I held the key, next the walls were closed on me and I discovered that my
castles stand on pillars of salt and pillars of sand.” In Act 5, Scene 5, Lines 30-52, Macbeth also
realized that his actions had led to an unexpected and undesired outcome – the death of his
closest friend and the destruction of his country.
DON’T EMULATE THESE FOLKS:

I chose the song "Wild Thing" to represent the character of Scarlet because she is fiery and
wild like a untamed animal throughout the novel. She shows the tenacity of a lion on the hunt,
never giving up until she gets what she wants. This song is an appropriate choice for her
because she enthralls all the men that she meets.

I chose this piece of classical music because the mood of the novel at certain points is very
grim and desperate. This music has the same feel, making the listener feel the desperation.